nounEtymology: German, from Old High German zitara, cithara, from Latin cithara cithara — more at citherDate: 1850
a stringed instrument having usually 30 to 40 strings over a shallow horizontal soundboard and played with pick and fingers
• zitheristnoun

Zither — ith er, n. [G. zither. See {Cittern}.] (Mus.) An instrument of music used in Austria and Germany. It has from thirty to forty wires strung across a shallow sounding board, which lies horizontally on a table before the performer, who uses both… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

zither — ► NOUN ▪ a musical instrument consisting of a flat wooden soundbox with numerous strings stretched across it, placed horizontally and played with the fingers and a plectrum. ORIGIN German, from Greek kithara, denoting a kind of harp; related to… … English terms dictionary